6-month-old injured; in-home day care provider charged

Clive Police Chief Michael Venema said in a news release Thursday that 55-year-old Tina Welch is charged with child endangerment causing serious injury. Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her.

Venema said medics went to Welch’s in-home day care business in Clive on Aug. 21 to help the child, who was having breathing problems. The infant was soon taken to a hospital.

A medical examination showed the girl had suffered brain bleeding and a spinal fracture. Police said Welch told investigators Monday that she’d shaken the infant.

Ex-janitor pleads guilty to taking locker room pictures

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A former janitor has pleaded guilty to taking pictures of women in an eastern Iowa college locker room.

Linn County court records say 46-year-old Jeffrey Pospisil entered the pleas Wednesday to two counts of invasion of privacy. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 18.

The investigation began when students at Cornell College in Mount Vernon reported seeing a cellphone held in an open doorway leading to the locker room. A coach found Pospisil in the area. He was an employee with a business that provides custodial service for the college. He told police he had been texting on the phone. A search of the phone revealed more than 100 images taken in the locker room as students were fully or partially nude.

Report: Chicago spent $213 million

on lawyers in police cases

CHICAGO — Chicago has paid private attorneys $213 million to handle police or misconduct cases over the past 15 years, in addition to the $757 million paid to resolve the cases through judgments or settlements, according to a report.

The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday that the city turns to private attorneys — who earn far more than the city’s own staff attorneys — far more than other major cities, including New York. And while some former top attorneys defend the practice as a way to bring in attorneys who have the expertise to handle the often complicated cases, the city found several examples where that expertise did not translate into court victories.

For example, the paper found that at least 11 times the city spent at least $2 million on lawyers and expenses only to spend at least $5 million to resolve each of those cases.

2 charged say they were hired to break into Iowa courthouse

ADEL, Iowa — Two men arrested on suspicion of breaking into a central Iowa courthouse say they were hired to test the building’s alarm system.

The Des Moines Register reports 29-year-old Justin Wynn, 29, of Naples, Fla., and 43-year-old Gary Demercurio, of Seattle, were found in the Dallas County Courthouse early Wednesday after an alarm was tripped. Both face burglary charges and are being held on $50,000 bond apiece.

The men told deputies they worked for the cybersecurity firm Coalfire and had been hired to test the courthouse alarm system. The state court administration acknowledged hiring the firm but only to test the security of electronic access to court records, not for “forced entry into a building.”

No attorney is listed for the men in online court records. Messages left Thursday with Coalfire and Sheriff Chad Leonard were not immediately returned.

Copyright, Telegraph Herald. This story cannot be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without prior authorization from the TH.